


Stalwart Defender

by tehJai



Series: About A Dog [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Introspection, No Dialogue, POV Dog, Unconditional Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29901273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehJai/pseuds/tehJai
Summary: (Spoilers for FFXIV Shadowbringers Patch 5.4)Deke has found himself with a very important job to do while one of his People is away from home.
Series: About A Dog [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883167
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	Stalwart Defender

The sounds and smells of the apartment, for the past few sennights, had changed into something _astounding_ : the low, bassy grind of a mortar and pestle followed by the tang of spices; the blub-blub of pots on the stove and the tastes of bone and charred vegetables on the air; the hum of the chef – of one of his Persons – working away at the counter and strangely… the absence of his other Person.

Deke, who by now had grown too big to get lost hiding under the cheese shelf, had his nose tucked into the seam of the baseboards adjacent to the kitchen, sniff-sniff-sniffing away. He wore a black-and-gold leather harness snug around his chest, and the star-shaped pendant round his neck that bore his name jingled with every step he took.

His Person with the big ears was making something in her kitchen, and Deke knew two things about this: it meant he would get some scraps after a fashion if he was a Good Boy and didn’t hang about begging, and that the other Person, the one who gave the best cuddles and who dressed like Deke himself, had not yet returned to the apartment.

He lifted his head to survey the Person cooking in the kitchen; her red eyes were narrow and she was doing something rather violent to an eggplant using a knife. Her big blue ears were pinned back just slightly – Deke knew all about ears, and he could tell that she was sad.

Perhaps about the other Person? They both missed him.. He missed the cuddles, or when he would be seated on his bottom with his back up against the headboard of the bed as though he, a dog, was also an actual Person, and the strange-smelling tomes would come out and he would be read to until he was asleep and drooling. He never knew what the missing Person was actually saying, the sounds of his words were long and musical and not any words like _sit_ or _wait_ that Deke was familiar with. Through this, his People had availed him of his fear of the Ul’dahn thunderstorms, and even though he wasn’t afraid of them anymore, when the thunder rumbled outside, all three of them would pile into bed with a tome and some treats (Deke enjoyed the popped millioncorn the best) and bide their time while it rained outside. It was so much of a favourite activity of Deke’s that when the thunderstorms would come, he’d bark excitedly and get himself into bed, waiting patiently for his people to make the treats and pick the tome and join him.

One morning, Deke had awoken from his usual spot at the foot of the bed of his People, and the Person with the big ears had taken him out for his early morning walkies, as was usual, and they’d gone back inside and the other Person was awake, a little bleary-eyed as he sipped away at a mug of tea and laid out everybody’s breakfast. Deke’s People _went_ places without him sometimes, and he was used to it. When they were gone, there were other People around, and the sparkly dogs-who-weren’t-dogs but who were close enough to be his friends would visit. This is what had happened that morning, and there had been great fun and lots of treats for him to sneak (one of the sparkly dogs-but-not had snuck up into the pastry cabinet to knock a few cheese danishes on the floor for him) but when his two People left, only one returned.

Deke could see the droop in her ears when she’d come back, and that night he’d spent bells trampling nervous circles into the mattress where the other Person usually slept, sniffing and whining and trying to pick up his scent. Where had he gone? Eventually, the strong brown hands of the Person with the big ears reached out to pat him, and he’d cuddled up with her for the night, but it had all seemed only half-right.

That the Person with the big ears ended up crying into his fur that night, great big sobs coming from her chest as she hugged Deke tight, had him thinking that it really _was_ only half-right. That was when Deke realised what his true job was: in the absence of the other Person, it fell to _him_ to cuddle and love on the Person with the big ears.

From that night forward, he had taken to this as though it was his duty. To him, it was the most important job of all. It wouldn’t do if the Person with the big ears became too sad and listless; both she and Deke needed to be in top form for when the other Person inevitably returned.

(As far as Deke was concerned, he _would_. His People always did.)

The Person with the big ears had kept herself busy, fixing up the kitchen and cooking and doing all manner of things with her hands, and all the while Deke observed carefully, acting as a sentry of sorts.

Today, Deke padded around the corner and into the kitchen proper where that Person was still angrily chopping a vegetable and immediately slunk onto his belly, crawling across the wooden floor until he could nose at her feet.

She made a slight, startled noise, lowering her knife and looking down at him. Deke looked up, tilting his head to-and-fro and offering a low _boof_.

Then, her ears perked up, and there was a smile on her face, and she was laughing happily at him. Before long, she had gotten down onto the floor with him with some bits of fried eggplant and was giving him belly rubs and telling him about what a Good Boy he was.

Whether or not Deke actually _was_ was beyond him, but he knew, above all things, that he needed to keep this Person happy so that all would be well when the other one returned.


End file.
